Watch Swedish Pilots Put the Phrog Through Its Paces

Airshows tend to be the stomping grounds of hotshot pilots who can push their aircraft to the very limit and then some. For the most part, these pilots tend to fly fixed-wing aircraft, but every so often, you get lucky and a rotary pilot comes across. Watch as two Swedish Air Force pilots put a CH-46 Sea Knight through its paces with every insane maneuver possible with the tandem-rotor medium lift helicopter.

The Swedish Air Force was the only country outside of North America to operate the Boeing Vertol CH-46 Sea Knight (also known as the “Phrog”) in a military role, and boy did they know how to fly ’em! Beginning procurement in the early 1960s, Sweden took delivery of ten UH-46Bs for use in anti-submarine warfare (ASW), and as battlefield troop transports. In less than ten years, the Swedes, who apparently loved the versatility of the Phrog, decided to buy eight more license-built versions from Japan. The last of the Swedish Phrogs were retired just four years ago, having served nearly forty years until their replacement.

The Speaker says the pilots used to be Strike Pilots from F15 Söderhamn which flew the AJ37 Viggen. Which makes sense as this is an air force Sea Knight, the air force later got the Super Puma for Search and Rescue so all their Sea Knights where transferred to the navy!

Sweden also had the Oldest flying Sea Knight TAB-II which was the second prototype and flew the first time in 1958!
It was bought as a replacement because of a crash in Swedish service it’s number was Y64 and the helicopter type called HKP4.

Back in the 1980s, when it still existed, the Soviet Union maintained a number of “friendly” relationships with a variety of African and Asian nations, mostly for the purposes of selling military hardware to counter the West. One such nation was Libya, which opted to arm and equip its military with a variety of Soviet products, [read more...]